Apparatus for making brushes



Dec. 26, 1933. E 1,941,343

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRUSHES Filed July 22, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 1/nvenf0r': MW" 636/) ddmey.

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APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRUSHES Filed July 22, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 id-N H& wl n.ii-

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APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRUSHES Filed July 22, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet I5Inventor.- Mel/w 6/ Dem-26, 1933. w EPP 1,941,343

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BRUSHES Filed July 22, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4lnvenfo rt Patented Dec. 26, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GermanyMay 3 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus for making cylindricalbrushes, wherein the bristle holders are of helical form.

A helical form of bristle holder is one which is wound as a helix afterthe holder has been folded into a U-shape to receive the bristles whichare held in the holder by pressing the sides thereof together.

The main object of the present invention is to 10 provide simple andeflicient apparatus by which the' bristles may be inserted and securedinto the holder.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description ofdrawings which follows and by means of which the invention will now beexplained in detail.

By bristles in the present specification are to be understood bristlesof any kind such as hair, fibre, wire or the like or mixtures, forexample, of hair bristles mixed with wire and. the like.

The drawings illustrate in Figs. 1 to 6, diagrammatically several formsof application of a series of methods for introducing folded bristlesinto a holder while Figs. 7 to 12 are diagrammatic illustrations of amachine which introduces the bristles into a special holder body whichconsists of a strip of sheet metal which is folded over into U-shape andwound up into a helical form.

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically a strip of metal 1, which is fiat and ontowhich the bristles 2 are placed. When the ends of this strip of metalare bent upwards in the direction of the two arrows shown in thedrawings, then the 35 metal strip assumes a U-shaped cross-section, thewalls of which enclose the bristles 2 in such a way that they areinserted in a folded position with their lower ends into the strip ofmetal and protrude with their free ends above the strip.

If now, as shown in Fig. 2, a round piece of metal, such as a wire, isplaced above the bristles, and if either at the moment of bending overthe walls of the strip of metal or after that, the walls are pressedtogether in the direction of the arrows shown in the drawings, then thewire 3 will hold the folded bristles in position in the groove which isformed at the lower end of the strip of metal which has been benttogether. The bristles can be secured further by applying to one side ofthe metal strip an adhesive substance such as putty, glue or the like.

The bristles may also be inserted in the way shown in Fig. 3. In thiscase, as illustrated by the position a, the metal stripv 1 is in thefirst 55 place bent in to a U-shape. The next stage b shows the bristles2 inserted in a folded condition; in the stage 0 the wire 3 has beeninserted and in stage d the sides of the sheet metal 1 have been pressedtogether above the wire 3.

These different stages illustrated in Fig. 3 can be combined in anydesired way, thus for example, the wire 3 can be inserted at the sametime as the bristles 2, and the bending of the sheet metal can takeplace at the same time as the pressing together of the upper ends of thesides 5 and so forth.

Fig. 4 shows a straight piece of U-shaped sheet metal forming the holder1, while Fig. 5 shows the straight holder wound up into a helical form.These helically rolled strips of sheet metal are 7 used in themanufacture of cylindrical brushes, for instance, machine brushes (Fig.6), by placing the different windings of the sheet metal which in Fig. 5are shown drawn apart, more or less closely together in an axialdirection.

The device shown in Figs. '1 to 12 is used, for example, principally forthe manufacture of such machine brushes as are shown in Fig. 6, in whichthe sheet metal holding strip is helically rolled up on the cylindricalbrush body proper.

The metal strip 1 is bent on a special machine which is not shown in theillustration, into a U-shape and is at the same time wound up helically.Fig. 9 shows to an enlarged scale the holder which has been prepared inthis way, the draw- 35 ings being a general view. Into this holder thebristles are then inserted by means of a device which consistsprincipally of a series of conveyor belts, a folding and insertingdevice, a conveying device for wire or the like, and a pressing device 9for the walls of the metal holder. In front of the folding and insertingdevice can also be arranged a device for removing surplus material.

The bristles 2 are placed on the conveyor belts '4 and are conveyed,passing preferably under a 5 pressure roller 5 which is under theinfluence of a spring, on to a conveyor belt 7 which is provided withpins 6. Above this conveyor belt is arranged a piece of sheet metal orchute 8 which has a mainly triangular form and the point of which,facing the flow of bristles moving towards it, divides the latter sothat if the layer of bristles is too thick, the surplus bristles areconveyed upwards by the conveyor belt 9 which is also provided withpins, along the upper inclined guide 1 5 plane 10 of the sheet metaltriangle, and are deposited on a table 11. To this end it is necessarythat the direction of the movement of the bristles be turned .in anopposite direction, and this is obtained by the fact that the sheetmetal part 8 has a projecting piece 12, which on the inner side is cutout concentrically with the centre of the shaft of the conveyor belt 9and extends above the table 11; in the table 11, there is in the pathsof the pins of the conveyor belt 9, a slot through which the pins canpass. The surplus bristles are shown on the drawings and marked by 2a.

After the layer of bristles on the conveyor belt 7 has been reduced to agiven thickness, the bristles come to lie on the two conveyor belts 13,each of which is .provided with pins. These two conveyor belts 13 mayalso be combined into one conveyor belt having a double row of pins.

Between the rows of pins 14 (Fig. 9) rotates a disc 15, the shaft 16 ofwhich lies parallel to the shaft 1'7 of the conveyor rollers for thebelts 13. This disc 15 is provided with one or more rings of pins 19which are arranged concentrical- 1y with the centre of the disc 15.These pins 19 form a bridging medium by which the bristles are carriedor fed from the conveyor belts 13 to the holder 1.

A wheel 31 is arranged below the discs 15 and is mounted on the axle 1'7(see Figs. 9a and 9b) This wheel has a groove with a fluted surface andis embraced laterally by the ends of a troughshaped plate 20, which hasa substantially U- shaped cross section. In Fig. 9, the wheel 31 hasbeen omitted for the sake of clearness. The bristles lying on the band13 are bent up between the wheels 15 and 31 and are then pushed into thetrough-shaped plate 20 whose side walls are wide at the front andgradually taper, so that the bent up bristles are completely folded, thefree ends of the bristles after folding being engaged by the pins 19,and, as hereinafter described, inserted into the plate 1.

At the same time as the bristles are folded a wire 3 is inserted whichunrolls from a supply drum 21 (Fig. 7). This wire comes to lie in agroove on the disc 15 and is inserted into the holder 1 at the same timeas the bristles, as soon as the disc is rotated by the pressing devicewhich is described later on. g

The holding wire is in a tangential position, on the one hand, on thedisc 15 and, on the other hand, on the inner circumference of the holder1 and thus carries along the bristles 2 as soon as the holder 1 isrotated and the wire is therefore drawn in.

i In order to ensure that the bristles are held in position in theholder it is necessary to compress the latter after the insertion of thebristles and the wire 3 in such a way as is illustrated in Figs. 2 and3. This is done by two pressing rollers 22 which are arranged on theshafts 23 and one opposite the other. These rollers compress stronglythe free walls of the U-shaped metal strip cross-section and at the sametime move along the metal strip 1, for which purpose they are providedwith ribs. In order to ensure that the bristles are inserted right tothe bottom of the holder 1 a counter-roller 24 (Fig. 7) is arranged insuch a way that the metal strip 1 rotates so against it that the disc 15reaches almost to the bottom of the strip.

In order to provide a further solid fixing of the bristles in the holder1, a device for applying a cement may be arranged as shown in Figs; 8,10 and 11. This cementing device is arranged, as can be seen in Fig. 8just in front of the disc 15 (when seen in the direction in which theholder 1 moves) and consists, as Figs. 10 and 11 show, of a disc 25which rotates on the shaft 26 and protrudes into the metal strip 1,while its lower end dips into a trough 27 which is filled with glue orputty. The rotation of the disc and the corresponding rotation of themetal strip 1 causes the putty or glue which has been carried along atthe bottom by the disc 25 to be conveyed into the inner side of themetal strip, so that the bristles are held in place very firmly,especially after the walls of the metal strip have been pressedtogether.

Behind the place where the bristles are inserted a cutting device can bearranged, the position of which is shown in Fig. 8, while Fig. 12 showsits construction. This cutting device consists of a cutter 28 resemblinga milling tool, which rotates on the shaft 29 and in a directionopposite to that in which the metal strip 1 with the bristles 2 moves.The cutting off of the protruding ends of. the bristles takes placebetween the cutter 28 and a counter-piece 30.

What I claim is:-

1. Apparatus for making cylindrical brushes having U-shaped bristleholders of helical form, comprising in combination with a conveyor forthe bristles, means for rotating and moving transversely of the conveyorone of said holders disposed in spaced relationship with the saidconveyor, bridging means for continuously feeding bristles from theconveyor to the said holder, means for folding the bristles andinserting a wire between the folded bristles whilst being fed by thesaid bridging means, and means for pressing the sides of the holdertogether after the folded bristles and the wire have been fed thereinto.

2. Apparatus for making cylindrical brushes having U-shaped bristleholders of helical form, comprising in combination with a rotatable wirefeeding disc, means on the said disc for continuous upward feeding offolded bristles with the wire between them to one of said holderssupported for rotation and longitudinal movement with the walls of theholder engaging the periphery of the said disc, a conveyor for feedingbristles to the disc, means co-operating with the said disc for foldingthe bristles fed by the conveyor to the disc and means for driving thebristle holder and pressing the walls thereof together after the foldedbristles have been fed thereinto.

3. Apparatus for making cylindrical brushes having U-shaped bristleholders of helical form, comprising in combination with a rotatable wirefeeding disc, a ring of concentric pins on the said disc for continuousupward feeding of folded bristles with the wire between them to one ofsaid holders supported for rotation and longitudinal movement with thewalls of the holder engaging the periphery of the said disc, a conveyorfor feeding bristles to the disc, means cooperating with the said discfor folding the bristles fed by the conveyor to the disc and means fordriving the bristle holder and pressing the walls thereof together afterthe folded bristles have been fed thereinto.

4. Apparatus for making cylindrical brushes having U-shaped bristleholders of helical form, comprising in combination with a rotatable wirefeeding disc, means on the said disc for continu ous upward feeding offolded bristles with the wire between them to one of said holderssupported for rotation and longitudinal movement with the walls of theholder engaging the periphery of the said disc, a conveyor for feedingbristles to the disc, means determining the thickness of the layer ofbristles on the conveyor and carrying surplus bristles away from theconveyor, means co-operating with the said disc for folding the bristlesfed by the conveyor to the disc and means for driving the bristle holderand pressing the walls thereof together after the folded bristles havebeen fed thereinto.

5. The combination with the apparatus according to claim 2 of a pointedchute disposed in front of the said disc facing the fiow of the bristleson the said conveyor, and conveyor means for conveying upwardly thesurplus bristles removed from the said conveyor by the said chute. 6.The combination with the apparatus according to claim 2 of a pointedchute disposed in front of the said disc facing the flow of the bristleson the said conveyor, conveyor means for conveying upwardly the surplusbristles removed from the said conveyor by the said chute, a surplusbristle receptacle disposed in front of the said conveyor means for thereceipt of the surplus bristles therefrom, and an overhung member tosaid chute extending over the said receptacle and the end of the saidconveyor means whereby the surplus bristles are deposited on the saidreceptacle.

WILHEIM EPP.

